RED RIGHT HAND 40 12 00 20 16 02 16 52 02 50 44 46 30 32 20 00 46 38 16 42

Red Right Hand: UPFRONTS FALLOUT: GILMORE GIRLS
*He is not a secret agent. Not at all.

 

UPFRONTS FALLOUT: GILMORE GIRLS

And thus, one of current television's longest running open secrets has now come to an end. And in so doing, it is now removed from the sidebar of The Highly Favored.


Gilmore Girls was an open secret in that those who weren't watching were scarcely aware of why they should be watching it, but no one was hiding it. Even I didn't realize its greatness until the second season when I stumbled over a Sunday replay on the WB. A case of my own genreism, I guess. It's a chick show. It's a family show. It doesn't fit what a lot of people think is their type of show (especially most of the people I know), but it's got dialogue that runs in the same pack as Sorkin and Whedon. It was pure smarts, the likes of which aren't seen on TV near often enough.

Amy Sherman-Palladino crafted a family show that could survive today's edgy times. Times so edgy that nothing is, in fact, edgy anymore. With culture references that flew by at lightning speed (notice I didn't say "pop culture" as the references reached a lot further than that) and a willingness to break some of the most ingrained rules of TV writing (look at the act outs...or rather the non-act outs), the show, for me, was required watching.

Alas, AS-P was not with the show in the last and final season. David Rosenthal was the showrunner this year and while it wasn't like classic GG or even like later-era GG (which, like any show, has those detractors that think anything beyond the first, maybe second, season sucks), but it was still good. It was not crap, despite the opinions of some purists or those who cry when when someone moves their fucking cheese. Had it not been year seven and starting to run up against money issues, the show would survive It was still smart and didn't assume the audience to be anything less.

Rumors of an eighth season (and the forms it might take) persisted until shortly before the end of the season, so the finale didn't have a whole lot of closure. One can easily imagine how an eight season might begin, with Rory perhaps coming off the campaign trail with Barack Obama (or even staying on the trail with lots of phone calls home to Stars Hollow) and Lorelei and Luke renewing their relationship, but I think the final episode is fitting.

Gilmore Girls has always stood out as a very hopeful show and the finale shows us that while we are leaving the Gilmores, we know that they're happy and that things are going right. Rory's starting her journalism career off in a big way, Lorelei and Luke are back to the business of fulfilling the potential that's been there since the pilot and even the Friday night dinners will continue as Lorelei and Emily's once fractured relationship continues.

I'm going to miss it. It doesn't seem likely, given the current TV climate, that a show like this will be seen again. At least I got to hang out in Stars Hollow for few minutes last year, cuz as I understand it, it's defining characteristics are gone.

Looking to the future though, AS-P's got a new show coming up on Fox. The Return of Jezebel James is a show I likely wouldn't watch except for AS-P. The whole estranged sister-surrogate pregnancy thing doesn't do much for me and seems like it could degenerate into just a regular old sitcom.

Well, I might give it a look because Parker Posey is a special kind of hawt (even when she's just a stand-in for Miss Teschmacher), as this shot from the new Hal Hartley flick Fay Grim shows. That looks ass-kickingly kick ass in a weird...Hartley...way.

Speaking of hot, we need to get Lauren Graham into a new series, pronto. She might be inclined to go work on the movie career (next appearing in Evan Almighty), but I need at least 20 hours annually. I need to dig up some old episodes of Townies or something.

Favorite Gilmore Girls: "They Shoot Gilmore's Don't They?" which features the girls all dolled-up 40s style for a dance marathon. Lane and Dave (Adam Brody). Great Luke, Taylor, and Kirk moments. The whole package.

You got one? Well, get one. Comments.
©2024 Michael Patrick Sullivan
<< Home